corrective experiences

“you’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. we’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. if i make you light-bearers, you don’t think i’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? i’m putting you on a light stand. now that i’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! keep open house; be generous with your lives. by opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” – matthew 5:11-16, the message

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i have a lot of amazing therapist friends. it is a gift and they help many people grow, heal, and become better people. the other day i got an email from one of them who shared a story with me about how part of our messy, crazy, putting-our-money-where-our-mouth-is community is creating “corrective experiences” for people.

in therapy, corrective emotional experiences are when we have an experience that repairs the traumatic influence of previous experiences.

i’d say it’s when we have an encounter that somehow heals, repairs, or shifts a previous trauma, assumption, or wound.

many of us have a lot of pain related to life and faith. we’ve been used, abused, hurt, cast aside. others have been unvalued, ignored, dismissed. some have specific experiences we remember vividly; others are a blur of a whole-bunch-of-hard-things strung together that create a pervasive feeling that we live with day to day.

feeling unloved, “not enough”, unworthy, or unvalued are probably the top ones for most people i know.

in my opinion, feeling unloved, “not enough”, unworthy, or unvalued should not be the primary feelings for God’s kids.

seriously, something is really wrong with this story if that is what it has consistently produced.

i believe in every part of my soul that the biggest work of the body of Christ is to help create “corrective experiences” for people to heal old wounds and begin to find new life and hope. to repair a bridge to God that has been blown out.

one of my biggest sorrows is that i have had very few corrective experiences in my interactions with the wider traditional church. in fact, more often than not, some of the old wounds get re-opened–that theology trumps relationship, that sin is measured, that there are levels of real christians, that faith needs to be controlled and managed, that leadership is about power-and-strength (not the good kind), that women are less-than.

so many people have given up on the possibility of the church being a safe place, of christians accepting them just-as-they-are, of feeling dignity, respect, and value.

this makes me so sad.

i know i can’t change the world, but i can do play my small little part in creating corrective experiences for people.

where instead of passing judgment, i can pass on love.

where instead of subtly or directly expecting people to change, i can accept them just as they are.

where instead of cementing the message that they don’t belong, i can welcome all people freely to the table.

where instead of shutting down someone’s painful story, i can listen and resist my urge to fix.

where instead of expecting people to believe what i do, i can honor their theologies and trust God is at work in their lives as much as he’s at work in mine.

where instead of seeing myself different from people, i can notice what we have in common.

[quote type=”center”]to me, this is light. this is keeping open house. this is being generous with our lives. this is what will heal wounds and help crack open a door that has been slammed shut out of pain.[/quote]

more than ever i believe this is the work of the church–to create corrective experiences for people.

so when our past indicates that by sharing the truth about who we are we might be met with judgement, we are met with love and acceptance instead.

when we risk bravely asking for help even though every part of us fears being shamed, we actually get some without condition.

when we mistreat someone, we received honest feedback from that person instead of anger or rejection.

when we let our guard down and share some of our real feelings, we are heard and treated with kindness and respect.

when we say no, the person on the other end accepts it without shaming or blaming.

when we get angry or do-all-kinds-of-weird-things-that-we-are-sure-will-cause-others-to-reject-us, we talk about it openly and no one leaves.

when we are sure that church couldn’t ever be safe enough for us, we encounter loving people who are part of a church and stir that possibility for us.

this week, i saw some of these corrective experiences in action; oh, it is always just so pretty!

it gets me all fired up about what could be if we focused less on programming and more on relationship. less on theological correctness and more on practice. less on the surface and more on the deep places of our hearts.

yeah, my dream is that the body of Christ was widely known as an army of healers, people who…

blow minds and hearts away with Jesus’ radical love and acceptance.

spark some freaky feeling inside hurting people where they go “huh, that’s weird, i thought christians were judgmental”

ignite a flicker of a flame inside that says “maybe God does love me”

restore dignity where it’s been stripped.

build worth and value where it’s been destroyed.

are safe and healthy and embody what so many of us didn’t get in our broken families.

may we play our small part in creating corrective experiences where others feel God’s love, hope, mercy, dignity, justice, and heart for them through us–his flawed but willing ambassadors this side of heaven.